Inquiry finds abuse and neglect in SA Indigenous communities

An inquiry has found widespread child sex abuse in remote Aboriginal communities in South Australia.

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TONY JONES: An inquiry has found widespread child sex abuse in remote Aboriginal communities in South Australia.

The APY lands in the state's far north are described as dysfunctional communities, where violence, abuse and hopelessness are rife.

The state and federal governments have promised quick action, but no Northern Territory-style intervention.

From Adelaide, Jason Om reports.

JASON OM: Today was South Australia's turn to learn the extent of abuse in it's most remote Aboriginal communities.

TED MULLIGHAN, INQUIRY COMMISSIONER: It's devastating, isn't it?

JASON OM: Only a thousand children live in the area which borders the Northern Territory, known as the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands.

Over the course of his 10 month inquiry, retired judge Ted Mullighan heard 141 children were abused. Many cases involved trading sex for money, drugs, alcohol or petrol.

TED MULLIGHAN: People who are now abusers were abused themselves.

JASON OM: In one of the most disturbing cases, a four-year-old girl was found in the street having been raped.

Commissioner Mullighan says violence, intimidation and the fear of retribution means many cases are going unreported.

MIKE RANN, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PREMIER: We need people to come forward with hard evidence so we can lock these bastards up.

JASON OM: The inquiry's 46 recommendations include: more police and a new police station; extra child protection and social workers; better reporting of abuse; and restrictions on pornography.

The state and federal governments are promising more than $19 million towards those measures.

But Aboriginal elder Lowitja O'Donoghue says the report has again confirmed what many have known for a long time.

LOWITJA O'DONOGHUE, ABORIGINAL ELDER: Governments don't really have a good track record in terms of responding.

JASON OM: Four years ago, she travelled to the lands as a government adviser with Tim Costello. Their report described appalling conditions and despair on the lands.

LOWITJA O'DONOGHUE: It is really promises. They don't respond quickly enough and they take too long.

JASON OM: Ms O'Donoghue says authorities knew about the problems as far back as 2002, when a coroner's inquest investigated petrol sniffing deaths. She says the abusers are effectively being protected by a code of silence.

LOWITJA O'DONOGHUE: They would have had to been. Because otherwise we would have you know people would have spoken out.

JASON OM: The Premier today pointed out it was his government that put police on the lands. He's promising to send another eight.

But police say without any forthcoming evidence from the inquiry, prosecuting the abusers won't come easy.

GRAEME BARTON, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN POLICE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: It is a difficult issue but what we've got to do is get the police in there.

JASON OM: The Federal Government's response has been vastly different to the Northern Territory's abuse report, with no plans for a military intervention. But it does like another Howard government idea: quarantining welfare payments.

JENNY MACKLIN, FEDERAL INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS MINISTER: Certainly we are in discussions with the South Australian Government on the issue of income quarantining.

JASON OM: Ted Mullighan is against any federal intervention and the South Australian Government agrees.

JAY WEATHERILL, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS MINISTER: There's no solution without working in partnership with these communities.

JASON OM: The inquiry spells out an urgent need for more housing in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, something the commonwealth says it's working on.